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The Texas Tribune – Federal officials opened a civil rights investigation into the state-controlled Houston ISD over its plans to relocate students with disabilities, separating them from classmates.

Some students with disabilities will be required to move campuses next school year where they will learn in a “contained” setting, Houston ISD Deputy Superintendent Kristen Hole announced earlier this week. It is part of an effort to centralize special education services, so programs spread across several campuses could be consolidated into one site. The majority of special education students will not be affected.

Hole said the changes will mean better instruction for children with disabilities with more small-group settings for individualized attention.

However, the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights is examining whether the move runs directly counter to the federal law that says students with disabilities should learn alongside classmates who do not have disabilities as much as possible.

“Schools cannot exclude students with disabilities simply because of their disability status. Placement decisions must be made individually, based on each student’s needs, rather than by blanket policies that segregate students by disability category,” Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Kimberly Richey wrote in a statement. “The allegations described here are alarming.”

Houston ISD did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the investigation. The district’s website notes that student services will still closely follow individualized education plans, or IEPs, which is a written plan of each students’ needs.

Federal officials cited concerns from Houston families that their children will lose out on a chance to improve their social skills in general education classrooms. Parents also worry that longer transportation times to these alternative campuses will be challenging for children with medical and behavioral needs.

Houston ISD previously has struggled to provide supports to the more than 20,000 students who qualify for special education services. In 2020, special investigators with the Texas Education Agency found HISD in “systemic and widespread” noncompliance with special education law.

About a decade ago, federal officials found Texas failed to properly educate many students with disabilities.The state had quietly capped the percentage of students that schools could identify as in need of special education services.

Houston ISD has been under state control since June 2023 due to chronic poor academic performance. For the district to regain local control, Texas Education Agency Commissioner Mike Morath has said, in addition to improving academic outcomes, HISD must get its special education programs in compliance with state and federal law.

This article first appeared on The Texas Tribune.

The Texas Tribune – As Texas struggles to meet the needs of a rapidly growing population, a state fund had $1.28 billion available this year to support projects that could deliver water even in a severe drought. 

Unfortunately, 23 worthy projects requested a total of $4.2 billion, prompting the state to deny 13 of them — the first time the SWIFT fund had to say no to an applicant in its 11-year history.

It was lamentable timing for a state plagued by a brutal drought and aging water infrastructure.

“We have more demand than we actually have the capacity to fulfill this year,” said Marvin Cole-Chaney, director of program administration and reporting for the Texas Water Development Board, which administers SWIFT, the State Water Implementation Fund for Texas.

One of the denied projects is a desalination plant with the potential to create 100 million gallons of drinking water a day along the Coastal Bend in South Texas — an area including Corpus Christi, which is in the grips of a devastating drought.

The denial surprised John Byrum, executive director of the Nueces River Authority, which proposed building the plant as a critical source of water for Coastal Bend cities. 

Under the scoring system used to set priorities for SWIFT, the river authority’s plant ranked 11th. The top 10 proposals will next submit more-detailed applications for the money. 

“We really thought our project would rate higher,” Byrum said. “We were disappointed.” 

The river authority requested $140 million to fuel plans to build a seawater desalination plant in Harbor Island, which sits within the cities of Aransas Pass and Port Aransas. A desalination plant filters salt and other minerals out of seawater to make it drinkable.

The proposed project, which received federal permitting in September and is projected to cost $3.2 billion, would distribute water to cities, water districts and businesses across South Texas, including Corpus Christi, which is nearing a water crisis. The coastal city is one of the biggest water suppliers in the region and may be just months away from a water crisis as its main reservoirs have shriveled to below 8% capacity. 

Corpus Christi paid $2.7 million to the river authority to reserve an option to buy 50 million gallons of water a day once the Harbor Island desalination plant is running.

City leaders are bracing for a Level 1 water emergency, the point when the water supply is projected to be 180 days from falling short of demand, which could be triggered as soon as September. Commissioners in Nueces County, which includes Corpus Christi, voted unanimously last week to declare a county-wide water emergency, restricting residents’ outdoor watering. 

SWIFT offers low-interest loans with extended and flexible repayment plans. The water development board said the denied projects may be eligible for other funding options, such as the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund, but Byrum believes the SWIFT fund should place a higher priority on an area’s need for water.

The water development board considers several factors when prioritizing projects, ranking them on a scoring sheet with a maximum score of 86. Projects can earn the most points by serving large populations, with readiness and water conservation among other factors also taken into account. 

A project’s “emergency need” carries little weight, earning a maximum five points.

None of the 10 highest-ranked projects earned any points for “emergency need,” a designation restricted to public water systems where supply is expected to fall short of demand within 180 days, federal money was sought or received to deal with the emergency, or the need for water will occur a decade sooner than anticipated by state planners.

The Harbor Island plant, despite targeting an area that critically needs water, earned no emergency need points and lost potential points because it is in rural Nueces County with a relatively low population. Its score of 62 was just one point behind the 10th-place project. 

This year’s 10 highest-rated SWIFT projects span the state, including the Riverbend Water Resources District — the top-rated project on the SWIFT scorecard. Riverbend is seeking $2.98 million to assess and expand water infrastructure to meet Texarkana’s growing population.

The North Texas Municipal Water District is asking for nearly $419 million for a pipeline and treatment plant in Leonard, a town in Fannin County. The water district is also receiving around $611 million to design a new raw water pump station. 

Money is also being directed to South Texas, where the Hidalgo County Drainage District made a pitch for $120 million for its proposed Santa Cruz Reservoir. 

Byrum said the Nueces River Authority is going to apply for the water board’s other funding programs, as well as seek private funding, in hopes of getting the Harbor Island desalination plant built. 

SWIFT was created by the Texas Legislature and approved by voters in 2013, allowing the one-time transfer of $2 billion from the state’s rainy day fund. Revenue bonds over the next 50 years, starting in 2015, will finance around $27 billion in water supply projects through SWIFT. 

To date, the water development board has committed about $17.2 billion in SWIFT money to 76 projects. The agency estimates the funding saved entities almost $2.1 billion over the life of the debt compared to market rates.

This article first appeared on The Texas Tribune.